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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his standing are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I aim to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been growing tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to